This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention that are described and claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Over the past few years, computers and computer-related technologies have become an integral part of the lives of more and more people. Many people now rely on computers for a variety of tasks, such as shopping, investing, and/or banking. Often times, however, using a computer to perform these tasks involves storing sensitive information on a user's computer, a service provider's computer, or both. Once stored, this information can be vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous people.
For this reason, many data storage devices, such as Advanced Technology Attachment (“ATA”) hard disk drives, have been designed to with embedded security features, such as passwords. For example, many ATA hard drives support a feature called “ATA Security” that enables an individual ATA hard drive to require a password to be entered before the data stored on the hard drive can be accessed. Once a password is programmed into the hard drive, the hard drive will only grant access to the data if the correct password is entered, even if the hard drive is removed from one computer and installed in a different computer. In this way, the password protection may prevent unscrupulous people from stealing data storage devices and exploiting the information stored on them.
However, as security technologies have improved, the ways to defeat or circumvent the security technology have also improved. Whereas several years ago, a six or eight character password was generally considered to provide adequate protection, modem code breaking technologies are now able to quickly “crack” passwords of this length. For this reason, many modem security systems are moving to longer passwords, often twenty-eight or more characters for example. Further, most security systems recommend using randomly generated passwords to prevent unscrupulous people from guessing a password. Unfortunately, remembering twenty-eight random characters can be fairly difficult and forgotten passwords can result in irrecoverable data.
An improved system for managing data storage device passwords would be desirable.